9 h 2 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a scientist’s way out of revolution leads through wild forests, a warlord’s Mongolia, and legends beneath the earth?
In Beasts, Men and Gods, Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski tells of fleeing the Bolsheviks across Siberia and Mongolia. The Polish scientist and writer becomes a fugitive in a collapsing order. Cold, hunger, hiding places and long rides shape his account, as the need to escape carries him through forests, rivers and mountain country.
The journey brings him into the world of Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a White Russian officer who makes himself a power in Mongolia. Alongside political violence, Ossendowski reports Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist beliefs, including Agharti and its King of the World. Eyewitness claims mingle with folklore in an adventure whose accuracy remains disputed.
What you’ll discover
- A scientist in flight Follow a chemist and geologist as revolution turns his life into a struggle for survival.
- Waiting in the wilds Enter the Siberian forests along the Yenisei, where escape demands hiding, patience and movement.
- A warlord in Mongolia Encounter Baron Ungern through Ossendowski’s portrait of an officer who seizes power amid upheaval.
- A kingdom beneath earth Explore the legend of Agharti as Ossendowski reports it from Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist belief.
- Adventure under question Weigh the pull of vivid testimony against the doubts that surround this traveller’s claims.
Who will love it
For readers who love true adventure, the Russian Revolution, Central Asia, and strange legends woven into an eyewitness account of escape and survival.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Revolution turns a scientist into a fugitive
- Hiding in the Siberian wilds takes patience
- Crossing into Mongolia, a borderland of faiths
- Baron Ungern is a warlord of strange ideas
- Mongol belief and the legend of the King of the World
- Praised for vivid scenes, questioned over accuracy
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Bestie, uomini e dèi
by Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski · 1922
A Polish scientist flees the Bolsheviks across Siberia and Mongolia, where survival meets war and prophecy.
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In short
Beasts, Men and Gods is a travel memoir of flight. Its author, Ferdynand Ossendowski, was a Polish scientist and writer who found himself in Russia when the Revolution broke out.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Revolution turns a scientist into a fugitive
Ferdynand Ossendowski was not a soldier by training. He was a Polish scientist, a chemist and geologist by profession, and a writer who had spent much of his life in the Russian Empire. He taught, he travelled, and he had already been in trouble with the authorities before 1917, because he had taken part in the unrest of 1905. When the old Russia collapsed, he was a man with strong opinions and many enemies.
The book opens in the chaos that followed the Revolution. Armies of Reds and Whites fought across Siberia, and no one could be sure which side would hold a town from one month to the next. Ossendowski worked in Siberia for the anti-Bolshevik side during this period, in the city of Omsk, where Admiral Kolchak led a White government. His knowledge of the region and its resources made him useful to men who were trying to hold the country together.
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What is Beasts, Men and Gods about?
It is Ferdynand Ossendowski's account of fleeing the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution. He crosses Siberia and Mongolia, meets the warlord Baron Ungern, and records Mongol legends, including the hidden kingdom of Agharti.
Is Beasts, Men and Gods a true story?
It is presented as a memoir of real events from about 1920 and 1921, and it appeared in 1922. Some critics doubted parts of it.
Who was Baron Ungern in the book?
Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was a Russian officer who fought the Bolsheviks and made himself ruler of Mongolia in 1921. Ossendowski portrays him as harsh, driven and fascinated by Asian religion.
The author
Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski
1878–1945 · Polish explorer and writer
Polish explorer and writer.
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